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Miguel Pérez
Domingo, 29 de diciembre 2024, 14:55
The new president of Georgia, Mikheil Kavelashvili, loyal to the ruling party, was sworn in behind closed doors this Sunday while thousands protested against his appointment. The ultra-conservative former footballer, close to Russian ideologies, succeeds Salome Zurabishvili, aligned with the pro-European opposition, who has decided to leave Parliament and join the demonstrators, asserting herself as the still 'legitimate president' of the country.
Georgia thus deepens its political and institutional crisis, ongoing since October 26, when the anti-Western Georgian Dream party controversially won the elections amidst fraud accusations. Defying all odds, the right-wing party emerged victorious with 53.9% of the votes, which the opposition coalition United National Movement labelled as 'falsified results'. Nevertheless, the ruling party proceeded with the inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili, their candidate from the start. The Electoral College confirmed his appointment on December 14, despite almost daily street protests against him over the past two months.
'Our history clearly shows that after countless struggles to defend our homeland and traditions, peace has always been one of the main goals of the Georgian people,' Kavelashvili declared in his speech this Sunday. The ceremony in Parliament began at eleven in the morning (Spanish time) and was notably brief. The new leader took the oath on the Bible and the Constitution, promising to strive to unite a population divided by an 'artificial polarization' orchestrated by 'external forces'.
'I will be the president of everyone, regardless of who likes me and who doesn't,' added the president, who supports the ruling party's thesis that Western 'enemies' and those interested in involving the country in the Ukraine war against Russia are poisoning Georgia's political climate. The government, Kavelashvili added, stands out for being 'freedom-loving' and 'does not conform to oppression, injustice, disrespect, and arrogance'.
His speech sharply contrasts with the 'torture' allegations from critical sectors, the detention of over 400 protesters and opposition leaders, and the sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Kingdom against senior Georgian government officials for protest repression. Some clashes between security forces and protesters have been extremely harsh, with dozens injured on both sides. These protests are already known as the 'fireworks revolution' due to the use of homemade pyrotechnics against the police.
Just 48 hours before the new president's speech, the United States announced further sanctions on billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, considered the real mastermind behind Georgian Dream. He was prime minister between 2012 and 2013, has an estimated fortune of 7.5 billion euros—amassed during his years as a businessman in Russia—and critics attribute him as the architect of his party's shift away from the pro-European orbit.
Georgian Dream has been adopting an anti-liberal and ultra-conservative rhetoric that, according to its detractors, endangers the country's democracy. The party has piloted eccentric measures in cutting social rights, such as passing laws similar to Russia's most authoritarian norms. Following the latest elections, the European Union has slowed down Georgia's accession process, prompting constant public reaction from opponents for the country, a former Soviet republic, to return to the path of integration.
'I will leave the presidential palace to be by your side, taking with me legitimacy, the flag, and your trust,' proclaimed outgoing president Salome Zurabishvili this morning before leaving the chamber to join the protesters. Zurabishvili has been an active critic of the alleged electoral fraud in recent weeks and, although her powers are now severely limited, she is using her international influence to emphasize this complaint and promote new elections, so far without success. The West has always considered her a close leader, and she has become popular in these countries she has frequently visited.
Her grandparents left Georgia in 1921 with the entry of the Red Army. Zurabishvili was born 72 years ago in Paris. She has been a diplomat in France and the United States and led Georgia since 2018. She achieved the presidency with the support of Georgian Dream, but the subsequent shift of this party towards very conservative and pro-Russian theses marked a distancing that has worsened with institutional crises, street protests, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The latest relations between the leader, the government, and the party have been extremely bitter. At least twice, the Georgian Dream-led government barred her from traveling abroad in 2023, although she did not comply with the directive.
She also did not comply with the order to remain inside Parliament this Sunday during her successor's inauguration. On Saturday, she participated in a chain in Tbilisi in favor of EU accession, and today she joined the protesters amid chants of 'Salome, Salome'. She has asserted herself as the 'legitimate president', albeit outside the presidential palace. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze had warned her hours earlier that if she did not leave her office, she would face a criminal offense 'punishable by many years in prison'. 'Society is out here. They are locked in there,' declared the now former president, who stated, 'I bring legitimacy and the flag with me' to the applause of the crowd.
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